PLATE 449. 



Phalakis arunj)INACEA, Liim. (Fl. Cap., Vol. ^'II., p. G88). 



iViit. Order Graniiuecb. 



Perennial. — liHizoiiE short, prtcmorse, stoloiiife.rous ; stolons with firm, scarious, 

 sheathing scales. 



Culms erect from a creeping or ascending base, iJ to 4 feet long, rooting at the 

 lower nodes, simple or very sparingly branched, firm, glabrous, finely striate, 5 to 7 

 or more noded, internodes gradually longer from the base, up to 1 foot long : sheaths 

 glabrous, smooth, finely striate, lower tight, longer than the internodes, upper looser, 

 shorter ; ligule scarious, white, obtuse, IJ to 3 lines long ; blades linear to linear- 

 lanceolate, long tapering, J to 1 foot, b}- 3 to S lines, rigid, glaucous, glabrous, 

 smooth, many nerved. 



Panicle erect, sometimes nodding, contracted, lolsed or sj)ike-like, up to X inches 

 long ; branches very short, adpressed-to the rhachis, or longer (to IJ inch) and more 

 or less spreading, copiously and densely "branched, glabrous, smooth or scabrid. 



Spikelets ovate-lanceolate, 2j to 3 lines long. 



Glumes sub-equal, whitish-green or ])urplisli acute, 8-nerved, keel not or very 

 obscurely winged, minutely serrulate, nerves raised. Empt}' valves sub-equal, 

 lanceolate to subulate, obscurely l-ner\'ed or nerveless, hairy with a callous Ijase, |hne 

 long. Fertile valve scantily silky, \^ line long. Pale ciliate on the back. Lodicules 

 obliquely ovate-lanceolate. Anthers \^ line long. 



Habitat : Natal. By the Mooi Kivcr, 4000 feet altitude, Wcwd 4097 ; Van 

 Keenen's Pass, Wood 721 o, partly. 



Also in Europe. 



Drawn from Wood's 7215. 



This grass is said to be indigenous in Norway, and Baron F. v. ]\tueller says of 

 it : — " Not without some importance as a reedy grass of bulky yield on wet meadows 

 or in swampy places. A variety with white-striped lea\es is a favourite as a ribbon 

 plant for garden plots." P. ranariensis, the " Canary grass," belongs to this geiuis. 



Fig 1, Spikelet ; 2, glume ; 3, rudimqntary valve ; 4, fertile valve ; 5 pale ; 6, pistil, 

 stamens and lodicules. All enlarged. 



